As a detached European, the first things I still think of upon mention of Colombia are sadly predictable… cocaine, Pablo Escobar, kidnap. I’d brazen that I’m not fully to blame, though, given that news reports and current affairs programmes which do venture to South America rarely report on anything other than drug wars, narco-cartels or the hippos Escobar left behind after his unwitting exit from this mortal coil back in 1993. Away from the headlines, then, what’s it really like?
Who better to ask than dynamic design duo Rubén Antorveza (the graphic designer) and Nicolas Cuestas (the digital artist) who have, over the last 12 months, established themselves and their collective, Bastardo, as the go-to agency for everyone from Hugo Boss to Dazed and Confused via Adidas.
“Bogota is – according to many critics, curators and artists including Hans Ulrich Obrist – becoming an epicentre for the arts nowadays” opines one half of the pairing, Nicolas Cuestas. “There are several art studios opening, new galleries coming up, and the city government has been working on supporting these new spaces making the whole place very attractive and vibrant.”
Has it worked? Well, it must have, otherwise chances are Ruben and Nicolas would have stayed in New York, because it’s there the pair first met at a party, got along and began working together. “I was studying for my MFA in Digital Arts at Pratt Institute after finishing a degree in Fine Arts at Los Andes University in Bogotá” recalls Nicolas. “Meanwhile, Ruben had just moved to the city to start working at TAG [a branding agency in NYC] after various jobs at studios around the world such as Patofeo Films and FX.”
“It was pretty easy for us to establish ourselves in Colombia” he continues. “We knew people, we had contacts, we had clients, and it was cheaper to get a place here compare to the states. Of course, it’s been a challenge to keep on track during this first year with regards to the legal aspects of forming our company; balancing the economical sustainability and dealing with each other 24/7, but we’ve managed OK!”
That’s something of an understatement for a company that started modestly with a handmade t-shirt collection back in the Big Apple, but which now boasts the clients mentioned in the opening paragraph of this profile. It was the response to that first range which made it quite apparent this duo had something special which needed developing. “It’s been a year now, we are now working in different fields from fashion and graphic design, to art projects and art direction for videos via store fits, post production and motion graphics.”
Influenced no doubt by growing up amongst the eclecticism of a city like Bogota, with its diverse history, extreme social contrast and filtered down Americanisms, you get the impression from browsing their beautifully hazy and nostalgic feeling website the aesthetics this pair seem to favour could loosely be defined as shabby or vintage chic. So too is their studio – an aged pink house of architectural heritage in an old French republican style, right in the heart of Bogota – that also doubles as a gallery and store.
“We have an obsession for the past, for what has been done before. But we’re interested in bringing that style to the modern day. It’s a simple twist and that combination of the past and present is just what we like. To get the effects we use Macs; we do digital collages; we scan the images and textures we want to use; we buy stuff online such as fonts and special items to create our compositions; we draw, paint and create our pieces with our Wacom tablets, but also now we are now doing our own designer fabrics. Oh, and we love the laser cutting machine and any kind of new platforms to reproduce digital images!”
As important as the tools of the trade is the relationship between Nicolas and Ruben. Every single project is undertaken together and they are all largely trial and error affairs. “We usually get a brief from our clients, then later we discuss and organize things in order to start developing each project. We gotta say though, most of our clients come to us based on the aesthetics and styles they can seen in all our work to date; in our portfolios and online.
As for the future, well it’s already here. In the same breath as saying “we hope to be an established studio not only in Colombia, but worldwide, with projects abroad and a greater international presence in galleries and design and arts stores” Nicolas talks of recent Bastardo exhibitions in both New York and China. “At the last one we had artists from the US, Korea, Argentina, France and Perú, and the last NYC show we had this year was at Ricon Projects – a fantastic pop-up gallery that holds a show in a flat!”
Aide from such exhibitions, the pair talk enthusiastically of creating more clothes collections and designing plenty more art and audio-visual installations. Given their success so far, you can’t help but feel they’ll have no troubles with any of that. One question does remain, though, in light of how politely and pleasantly this pair discuss their work…why call their company Bastardo?
“Because we are Bastardo, the one who’s always there no matter what anyone thinks. Bastardo is not conventional; Bastardo goes against the main stream ideology so, really, we are one big Colombian Bastardo…”
Check out their website www.imperiobastardo.com
Kristan J Caryl
